The outgoing Artistic and Executive Director has reflected on his long association with Ojai as Teddy Abrams prepares to take over the Festival’s leadership.
Ara Guzelimian has bid farewell to the Ojai Music Festival as he concludes his tenure as Artistic and Executive Director, bringing to a close the latest chapter of an association with the California festival that has spanned several decades.
In a message published by the Festival under the title Moments to Treasure, Guzelimian said he was leaving with a profound sense of gratitude after a summer that culminated in the 80th Ojai Music Festival, led by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
“Ojai remains central in all I do and will always be a home for me,” Guzelimian wrote, recalling an association that has been close to continuous for much of his life.
Guzelimian previously served as Ojai’s Artistic Director from 1992 to 1997, working with Festival Music Directors including Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Kent Nagano, Michael Tilson Thomas and Emanuel Ax. He returned as Artistic and Executive Director in 2020, beginning a new tenure that encompassed festivals with John Adams, American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), Rhiannon Giddens, Mitsuko Uchida, Claire Chase and, in 2026, Salonen.
Reflecting on that period, Guzelimian singled out the Festival’s return to live performance in September 2021 following the pandemic-enforced interruption. He described the experience of audiences and musicians listening to music together again as particularly emotional.
He also described this year’s Festival with Salonen as “both an exhilarating homecoming and a great full-circle moment,” adding that he could hardly imagine a better culmination to his tenure. Guzelimian and Salonen have a professional relationship stretching back to the conductor and composer’s early years with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Guzelimian concluded his farewell by looking towards the Festival’s next chapter under conductor, composer and pianist Teddy Abrams.
“I know that we are in very good hands in the years to come under the leadership of Teddy Abrams, who will bring renewed energy and imagination to Ojai,” he wrote.
Abrams formally becomes Artistic and Executive Director of the Ojai Music Festival on 1 September. He will continue concurrently as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra. His first Ojai Festival as Artistic and Executive Director will take place from 10 to 13 June 2027, with mandolinist and composer Chris Thile serving as Music Director.
Guzelimian summed up his departure by describing those who lead the Festival as individual links in “a much longer chain”, saying it had been his “profound good fortune” to help steward what he called Ojai’s “unique musical adventure”.
You can read Guzelimian’s full letter here
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